How is the Cabinet Secretary engaging with stakeholders regarding the introduction of British Sign Language into the curriculum in Wales?
The Area of Learning and Experience relating to Languages, Literacy and Communication is being designed and developed by a group of pioneer schools which includes representation from special schools.
This group has included British Sign Language alongside other languages in its discussion of the Area of Learning and Experience's scope and boundaries. This development and design is ongoing.
Work on the high-level design of the Areas of Learning and Experience began in January. As part of the pioneer network, special schools are involved in the design and development of the new curriculum, representing the needs of deaf and hearing impaired learners.
Stakeholders are being engaged during the development of the Areas of Learning and Experience. British Sign Language is one of the areas on which the pioneer network will seek advice.
I recognise the importance of ensuring we have an education workforce that is skilled and confident in meeting a wide range of additional learning needs (ALN), including those with hearing impairments. Local authorities (LAs) are responsible for ensuring suitable educational provision for all children. This includes ensuring BSL is available to a child whose needs have been identified as requiring such provision to enable them to access the curriculum.
The Welsh Government has recently announced a £20m package of funding to support implementation of the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Bill and delivery of the wider ALN Transformation Programme. A substantial amount of the £20m will be targeted at workforce development, to ensure practitioners are fully equipped to deliver the new ALN system.
We have engaged with teachers of the deaf and are aware of pressure on LAs, including specialist teacher numbers. In partnership with the WLGA we are collecting data from Heads of Service on specialist workforce issues, including BSL. This data will provide us with the intelligence needed to understand the issues and actions required.
Our workforce agenda will build on the existing requirements of our teaching workforce. Teachers in Wales are required to understand and be aware of the well being, personal, emotional and social development of all learners. For learners with disabilities in particular, they should improve access to the curriculum, make physical improvements to increase participation in education and provide information in appropriate formats.
This requirement is embedded very early on in the profession as the current Qualified Teacher Standards (QTS) require student teachers to demonstrate they understand the diverse learning needs of all learners. In doing so, they should endeavour to provide the best possible education for the learner to reach their potential, whatever their personal circumstances.
The new accreditation criteria for initial teacher education (ITE) in Wales require future accredited providers of ITE to develop future teachers to meet the needs of all learners including those with ALN such as hearing impairment. The criteria for the accreditation of ITE programmes in Wales can be found at http://learning.gov.wales/resources/browse-all/initial-teacher-education-accreditation-criteria/?lang=en.
The Welsh Government does not collect data on the number of deaf pupils in Wales receiving designated BSL lessons.
However, I understand that since 2011 the Consortium for Research into Deaf Education (CRIDE) has undertaken an annual survey on educational staffing and service provision for deaf children with separate reports published for England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland, which set out the results for each respective nation. The 2016 survey was not sent out to services in Scotland in light of similar work being undertaken by the Scottish Government. CRIDE have made it clear that there remain inconsistencies in how different questions are completed throughout the survey. They also indicate that response rates to individual questions sometimes vary and as a consequence the results should continue to be used with caution.